This is a pretty cool post from Arthur P that deals more with the "fun, not fun" aspect of competition shooting and why a lot of excellent shooters stay away from competition. I'm not saying compitition is all that bad, or who is a better shot cause I really don't care. Sometimes I'drather visit the club leading up to or after a competition and shoot the course at my leisure with my son.
As to people not shooting, you want toknow a big reason why so many bowhunters don't enjoy shooting? I'll tell you. It's a pretty interesting look at how people don't learn from their mistakes and allow history repeat itself.
Back in the 30'speople got tired of shooting the old Kings Round and came up with a target game for bowhunters called field archery. It got really popular because it was fun to shoot. Along came the pure target shooters saying they wanted to play too. So, bowhunters opened the door, in come the target shooters and they began calling themselves freestylers and eventually took over. Then they set things up the way THEY liked it and most all the bowhunters quit. It wasn't fun any more with all the nitpicky rules and cutthroat competition.
So, in the 80's we developed a new bowhunters' game called 3D. It got really popular because it was fun. Then along came the freestylers who said they wanted to play too. Bowhunters opened the door, in came the freestylers, who changed their name to open class and they eventually took over. Then they set things up the way THEY liked it and most all the bowhunters quit. It wasn't fun any more, with all the nitpicky rules and cutthroat competition.
3D has left such a sour taste in the mouths of so many bowhunters that you can't hardly drag them to an archery range any more. A huge number of archery clubs have lost their ranges and had to close because of lack of participation. Even for those who want to shoot, there's often no place to shoot, so no practice.
When was the last time you went to a 3D shoot and actually heard people all around the range joking, laughing and having a ball?To the contrary. It's like you're at a morgue, with everyone acting half afraid to evenbreathe lest they disturb someone on the shooting stake.
If you want to see what it's like to have fun at a shoot, you've got to go to an all-traditional event. Whole different atmosphere, completely different mindset. You better believe they compete but they know how to have fun while doing it.
If you want to get people involved in shooting again, then you've got to keep the serious target shooters on a tight leash. Let them know this is for bowhunters and they're welcome to join in, but they can leave their tournament crap at home, because it's not wanted.